


At the Top of the List

by BotchedExperiment



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Crying, Fever, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Sick Character, Sickfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-09
Updated: 2019-05-09
Packaged: 2020-02-29 03:59:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,403
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18770746
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BotchedExperiment/pseuds/BotchedExperiment
Summary: "He's ill? You should wake Jester right away. She can help.""No, no Caleb," a large hand clapped on his shoulder, and Fjord pointedly said, "He's /askin'/ for /you/."ORMolly's not feeling well; Fjord fetches Caleb in the middle of the night.





	At the Top of the List

**Author's Note:**

> idk what i'm doing please ENJOY!

"Caleb."

Caleb dreamt of someone calling his name.

_"Caleb."_

His eyes shot open. It wasn't a dream. He caught a glimpse of yellow eyes in his face and gasped at the figure standing on the side of his bed, pulling himself up against the headboard in a panic.

"Calm down!" the figure whispered, sparing a glance toward Nott, who was curled up next to Caleb, snoring softly. "It's me, it's Fjord."

Caleb breathed out a sigh, panic dissipating as Fjord waited patiently for him to fully wake up and process what was happening.

"What is it? What's wrong?" he mumbled, rubbing his face. It was 2:30 in the morning, he'd only been asleep for a little over an hour. Nott warned him not to stay up too late reading, even if they didn’t have anywhere urgent to be in the morning. As usual, he should have listened to Nott, because he was exhausted and didn’t anticipate the rude awakening.

"Look, uh… it's Molly. He's ill and- well, he's askin' for you."

Anxiety rose in his chest. Molly had seemed rather unwell the night before. He only had one drink after their return to the inn (strange), and he was the first to retire for the night (even stranger). Caleb hoped that it was nothing, he was simply tired from the events of the day, but - apparently - it wasn’t. "He's ill? You should wake Jester right away. She can help."

"No, no Caleb," a large hand clapped on his shoulder, and Fjord pointedly said, "He's _askin'_  for _you_."

Caleb averted his eyes. Recently, his and Molly's relationship had... changed. For the better, Caleb hoped. He liked to think that no one else could tell, but their group wasn't exactly known for keeping to themselves when it came to each other's business. There was no confusion or awkwardness from Fjord, only apparent concern for Molly's well-being. That itself was enough to know that everyone was aware of the two of them.

Caleb nodded wordlessly, threw his covers back, made sure Nott was still asleep, and followed Fjord of the room.

"He woke me up and said that he felt 'wrong', whatever that means," the half-orc explained in a hushed voice. He turned the handle to his room and led Caleb in. "And then he started-" Fjord cleared his throat. "Well, you'll see."

A candle in the room had just recently been lit, as evidenced by the melted wax that had yet to drip down the side. What really caught Caleb's eye, however, was a shivering Mollymauk on one side of the bed. He took shaky breaths in and out, and as Caleb walked further into the room, he saw that those breaths weren't teeth chattering from cold as he'd assumed, but rather… was Mollymauk crying?

An exhale from the tiefling was accompanied by a soft, barely-stifled whimper as if he was trying so hard not to let himself give in. He was sitting up in bed, a blanket around his shoulders neatly enough that he couldn’t have covered himself. Molly's hair was messy and damp, and his skin had a flushed quality to it that - now that Caleb thought about it - was there the night before.

Caleb glanced back at Fjord, who was standing near the doorway with his arms crossed and a worried expression, and then sat on the edge of the bed, taking one of Molly's hands between his. It was damp with tears and probably mucus as well, wet streaks all over the tiefling's lavender skin. Caleb frowned. A sign that this had been going on for a little while, then.

Molly's teary gaze went from his hand to Caleb's eyes, and he covered his face with the other. He took a shuddery breath and huffed out an embarrassed chuckle despite himself. "Don’t look at me right now. I'm disgusting."

Caleb cracked a smile. "You ask me in here and then tell me not to look at you? What is that all about?" But Molly's smile had already faded, and the tears were returning, and… Caleb had no idea what to do. He'd never learned how to fix these kinds of situations. So, he leaned closer and pulled Molly into his arms until the tiefling was crying into his shoulder.

"Oh…okay, it's alright." As Caleb turned to look at Fjord, the two of them exchanged looks of concern. "I hope you don’t mind if I stay here for a little bit."

Fjord shrugged and gestured widely. "Please. Let me know if you need anything."

He rubbed Mollymauk's back, thankful to hear the crying dissipate, but displeased to feel a fever through the fabric of Molly's shirt. "You may be able to stay in our room for the night."

A scoff. "I'll take the floor and hope Nott doesn’t fuckin' maim me when she wakes up and sees me there."

Caleb snorted, because that was an absolutely warranted concern.

There was a _click_ of the door shutting quietly behind them, and then they were alone.

Caleb reluctantly pulled Molly away to look at his face. It was wet and blotchy, and Caleb noticed his nose running as well. He brushed some curls out of Molly's face and pulled him in, pressing a kiss to his overheated forehead.

"You're running a temperature," he informed grimly. "Fjord said you were ill?"

Molly nodded as he rubbed at his eyes with a sniffle. "I've never felt this awful, Caleb. I'm so sorry. Everything hurts and I'm tired and I can't sleep and I wanted…"

"…me?" Caleb finished, almost in disbelief. Out of all the people in the group that could help with this, Caleb was sure that he himself would be the last on the list.

Another sniffle as Molly gave the smallest smile.

"Jester could help. She is a cleric, after all."

Molly was already shaking his head. "Caleb… just- just… be here, alright?"

"I can do that." Caleb caught sight of an abandoned purple handkerchief on the nightstand and made quick use of it, wiping up Molly's face despite the tiefling's protests. He lazily batted at Caleb's hand and made a sound of disgust when the wizard began wiping at his nose.

"Eugh," he said, snatching the kerchief from Caleb's grip. "Really?"

Caleb swallowed, shrugged, feeling a bit guilty. "It needed to be done. Don’t you feel a little better now?"

"Not really, no." He started to chuckle and ended up coughing instead. It sounded painful. Caleb could hear it deep in Molly's chest. He tried not to worry too quickly. Illness was a normal thing, people got sick and got better, no cause for concern, everything was going to be alright.

Molly clamped the kerchief over his mouth and let out two more coughs, brows knitted together in a wince.

"Have you slept yet?" Caleb asked. He raised a hand to feel Molly's forehead - more for comfort rather than actually feeling his temperature - and then hesitated. Maybe he was doing too much touching. He could very well be crossing boundaries without realizing it, Caleb realized as he returned his hand to his lap. Maybe that was enough for tonight.

Caleb's thoughts were interrupted when Molly grabbed his wrist and pressed his hand to his forehead himself with a soft smile. "I've tried," he answered while Caleb's hand traveled down to his cheek, then his neck. He let out a shaky sigh, and gave a desperate look of exhaustion. "I feel so awful, Caleb."

Caleb hummed thoughtfully. He wasn’t sure what a normal temperature for a tiefling was, but Molly was definitely warmer than usual. "We should be able to find medicine in the morning."

"I really hope so," Molly said before following it with a miserable whine. "You wouldn’t mind staying the night, would you? To keep me company?"

His cheeks suddenly felt very warm. "Of course." Caleb climbed onto what was Fjord's side of the bed and covered both of them up. Molly was quick to press his body to Caleb's, shivering incessantly and letting out soft whines as he got comfortable.

"What's wrong?"

"Achy," Molly answered miserably, nuzzling into Caleb's chest.

Molly didn't fall asleep easily. He spent a good amount of time tossing and turning, muscles too achy to let him sit still. Finally, though, Caleb heard even breathing and then soft snoring that told him Molly was finally asleep, and with that, he could sleep as well.

**Author's Note:**

> hey so here i am again dropping a sickfic in yet another fandom i probably can't be stopped
> 
> but also, i love you all, thanks for reading <3
> 
> (I'm not even halfway through this campaign yet, apologies if the canon is horribly inaccurate)


End file.
